There is a difference between knowing someone showed up and knowing how many hours they actually worked. Most businesses in The Gambia track the first but ignore the second. This gap costs real money.

Why Arrival Time Is Not Enough

Knowing that an employee arrived at 8:00 AM tells you one thing. But if you do not know when they left, you cannot calculate actual working hours. You cannot verify overtime claims. You cannot identify employees who consistently leave early. And you cannot generate accurate payroll.

A complete attendance system tracks both check-in and check-out times. Everything else is built on that foundation.

The Four Things You Should Be Tracking

First: arrival time. When did the employee actually start work? Not when they say they did, but the verified timestamp.

Second: departure time. When did they leave? This closes the loop and gives you total hours worked per day.

Third: breaks and absences during the day. Did the employee leave for 2 hours in the middle of the day? Some systems track this, others do not. For roles where presence matters, this is important.

Fourth: location. Especially for organizations with field staff, multiple branches, or remote teams. Where was the employee when they checked in?

How to Calculate Hours Accurately

Once you have check-in and check-out data, the math is straightforward. Total hours equals departure time minus arrival time, minus any breaks. Overtime is any time beyond the standard working hours defined in your policy.

Under the Gambian Labour Act, overtime is paid at 1.5 times the normal rate on weekdays and 2 times on rest days. Getting this wrong, either direction, creates problems. Underpaying overtime violates the law. Overpaying costs money you did not need to spend.

Why Manual Tracking Fails Here

Manual systems fail at hour tracking because departure times are rarely recorded accurately. Most paper registers are filled in at the start of the day and never updated. Overtime is claimed verbally and approved without verification. The data does not exist to calculate properly.

The Automated Approach

AttendanceGM records both check-in and check-out with exact timestamps. Working hours are calculated automatically for each employee, each day. Overtime is flagged and calculated using Gambian Labour Act rates. At month-end, the payroll report is ready without any manual calculation.

Track hours, not just presence. Start free at attendancegm.com